FranklinCovey's 7 Habits Coach

Members can also sign up for FranklinCovey’s 7 Habits Coach 10-episode webcast series designed to help navigate real problems in challenging times. The series will be delivered daily for 10 days to help you: • Focus on what you can influence when there is a lot out of your control. • Get the skills to prioritize in the midst of overwhelming outside forces. • Apply timeless principles to preserve relationships with family, friends and colleagues in times of stress.

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Four Ways to Scale Safety and Quality During the Building Boom

WEBINAR DESCRIPTION

As construction firms prepare to scale their operations to support new infrastructure investments, they’re challenged to attain high-quality work in safe workplaces using newly hired workers—as well as long-term employees who are reluctant to adopt new technologies.

There are at least four ways a data-driven safety and quality program can help.

• • Increased inspection productivity can reduce the time it takes to complete safety and quality inspections, leading to fewer missed deadlines.
• • More rapid communication of hazards can lead to faster remediation and fewer safety incidents.
• • Turning ordinary actions into information can help you better understand, improve and demonstrate your safety posture—without adding more inspections.
• • Greater transparency can encourage more workers to adopt safer, higher-quality work practices, which will drive down your EMR and increase project quality.Greater transparency can encourage more workers to adopt safer, higher-quality work practices, which will drive down your EMR and increase project quality.

This sounds great in theory, but construction companies often struggle to put these ideas into practice. This webinar will discuss how digitization of safety inspections and standard operating procedures can increase productivity, streamline communication, generate safety and quality data in real time, as well as promote transparency—all at scale.

SPEAKER INFO

Jake Freivald’s twenty-five year career in software has covered multiple technology specializations with a focus on data management and analytics. He places particular emphasis on helping businesspeople understand the practical requirements of modernization. He has a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Cornell University and lives with his family on Long Island, New York.

Construction Executive’s 2021 Q3 Construction Economic Update and Forecast

WEBINAR DESCRIPTION

Anirban Basu, chief economist for Associated Builders and Contractors, will demystify the ever-changing economic landscape and provide an update following the Q2 construction industry forecast in July. Basu will share the latest statistics, unemployment and labor figures, in addition to his exclusive (and always entertaining) economic outlook.

During this webinar, Basu will discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the construction industry and the economy in general, the status of the monumental recovery effort and the infrastructure plans, as well as a extended review of regional and national economic indicators, regional construction data and market sectors.

Sign up for this 60-minute presentation followed by 30 minutes of live Q&A. You may submit questions in advance while registering for this webinar.

SPEAKER INFO

Anirban Basu is Chairman & CEO of Sage Policy Group, Inc., an economic and policy consulting firm headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.

In 2014, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan appointed him Chair of the Maryland Economic Development Commission. He is also the Chief Economist to Associated Builders and Contractors and Chief Economic Advisor to the Construction Financial Management Association. He lectures at Johns Hopkins University in Global Strategy and has also taught international economics, urban economics, micro- and macroeconomics at Hopkins. His radio show can be heard weekdays on 88.1FM, WYPR, Baltimore.

Mr. Basu earned his B.S. in foreign service at Georgetown University in 1990. He earned his master’s in public policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and his master’s in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park. His juris doctor was earned at the University of Maryland School of Law, and his doctoral work is in health economics and has taken place at UMBC.

President Biden’s COVID-19 Vaccination Action Plan—What Employers Need to Know

WEBINAR DESCRIPTION
ABC Members Only 

On Sept. 9, President Biden unveiled a six-pronged national strategy to combat the spread of COVID-19 that will impact large private employers (100 or more employees) and federal contractors. Learn what we currently know about the forthcoming Emergency Temporary Standard and federal contractor rule, the questions that remain unanswered and the actions employers should take now to prepare for issuance. Littler will also outline ABC’s advocacy strategy on the rules.

Who should attend? All ABC members are welcome to attend, but it is our current understanding that Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination action plan will impact large private employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors.  

The Workforce Management Gap

WEBINAR DESCRIPTION

Hear real stories from real contractors about real-life workforce management (WFM) success and what it really means in the construction industry. Together, we’ll take a look at workforce management today and what innovative companies are doing to shape the future of WFM and the construction industry.

You might be wondering, what is WFM? WFM is an organizational approach used to optimize employee productivity and efficiency. When done the right way with the right technology, it can include planning and scheduling, data management, analytics, people management, communication and forecasting.

So what does that really mean? In short, it means having the right people at the right place at the right time and using the right data to make those decisions while effectively communicating across your entire organization.

Adopting workforce management in the construction industry enables your organization’s leaders to understand who is on their team, what they’re good at and where they’re working. In addition, it allows you to properly determine how many people are needed for any given project and then ensures you can get the right people on and off projects at the right time.

SPEAKER INFO

Ben Schultz is chief executive officer and founder of LaborChart. He is responsible for the overall strategic direction and growth of the company. Prior to finding LaborChart, Schultz was a fourth-generation electrical contractor who worked in the construction industry for 15 years. He branched out on his own to develop a workforce management platform that could ultimately transform the construction industry.

Gary Fuchs spent 43 years in the construction industry, most notably as VP of construction for Westphal Electric. While at Westphal, Fuchs implemented workforce management standards and best practices utilizing LaborChart, later joining the LaborChart team as senior workforce advisor.

Defining Success: Top Things You Need to Know When Reading a Contract

WEBINAR DESCRIPTION

Your professional life is governed by contracts, but are you fluent in contract language? Definitions are the language of contracts, and if you don’t know how they work, you’re leaving yourself open to significant risk.

Why do definitions matter? Because defined terms are the building blocks of every contract provision. For example, you may expect that you can be held liable for damages, but would never in a million years agree to be held liable for Damages. The difference? The second—the one with the capital D—is a defined term…and it means whatever the author of the contract says it does.

Join this webinar to learn:

• • To spot overlooked definition traps hidden in plain sight
• • How to interpret contracts the way a judge or arbitrator would
• • Top ways to use definitions to your advantage when revising contracts

SPEAKER INFO

With more than 30 years of experience, Eliot Wagonheim serves as general counsel to small and mid-sized businesses in a wide array of industries in both litigation and corporate matter. His clients range from five person shops to some of the most successful and recognized companies in the region.

Over the course of his career, Eliot and his team have served as buyer’s counsel as well as seller’s counsel in transactions ranging from $50,000 to $100,000,000. From a litigation perspective, Eliot has both won and successfully defended cases ranging from multi-million dollar, bet-your-company cases to smaller, District Court actions.

In addition to working with clients, Eliot also supports organizations and people by teaching online webinars, workshops, and Master Classes through the online platform WagonheimU; and speaking virtually and in-person.

Coronavirus Relief for Construction Business

As the federal government has provided more than $6 trillion in relief funding to address the COVID-19 health and economic crisis, ABC advocated for and supported critical bipartisan policies enacted by the U.S. Congress. However, ABC also expressed concerns regarding the most recent $1.9 trillion legislation passed under budget reconciliation and signed into law without bipartisan support.

ABC now urges Congress and the administration to focus on critical policies that will ensure our nation’s construction industry remains strong and ready to lead the economic comeback.

DOL Inspector General Releases Report on Davis-Bacon Wage Audit

On March 29, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General released an audit examining the DOL’s Wage and House Divisions survey process for collecting and determining the prevailing wage rate in four types of construction projects. According to the report, the OIG found that, as of September 2018, 3% of WHD’s 134,738 unique published rates, roughly 4,400, had not been updated in 21 to 40 years. Additionally, of seven sampled surveys that analyzed 124 wage rates, the OIG found 48% of the rates were not determined from data about a single construction worker within the 31 counties that the published rates represented. Finally, the report found union wages prevailed for 48% of the wage determinations, despite the fact that just 12.8% of the U.S. private construction workforce is unionized.

Read more.

The Heritage Foundation: Labor Department Can Create Jobs by Calculating Davis–Bacon Rates More Accurately

According to a report issued by the Heritage Foundation, the United States Department of Labor   uses unscientific and flawed methods to estimate the Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wage rates. The report found, amongst other findings, that current surveys do not use statistically representative samples have tiny sample sizes and combine data from economically unrelated counties or set local wages using statewide data. Furthermore, nearly half of the surveys are over a decade old and don’t account for economic changes over the last ten year. The report concludes by suggesting the DOL should switch to Bureau of Labor Statistics data to get a more accurate reading of wage data.

Read more.

Overview of New Hotel Engine and Travelers Haven Programs